Chapter 5 ELECTION CAMPAIGN AND MEDIA Campaign period There is no formal campaign period in Zimbabwe, though campaigns were required to end 24 hours before Election Day as a ‘cooling-off’ period. After the Nomination Court sat on 14 June 2018, the campaign intensity rose markedly. However, some political parties held press conferences on 29 July 2018 (the day before Election Day) and there was limited campaigning witnessed in some parts of the country. The Electoral Act 2005 (Amended 2018) provides that all political parties can campaign freely within the law8 and outlines penalties, including a fine or imprisonment, for any person who intimidates, prevents or obstructs any political party or candidate’s right to campaign.9 The amended Electoral Act also incorporated an Electoral Code of Conduct for Political Parties and Candidates and Other Stakeholders, which binds all stakeholders to ensure that the political environment is at all times free of violence, coercion and intimidation. It also stipulates that political parties, all candidates, their members and their supporters accept that others have the right to present their political principles and ideas in a peaceful environment, without intimidation or fear of reprisal and must respect that right. Pre-election campaign environment The Group was informed that the nature of the campaign for the 2018 Harmonised Elections was influenced by an improved political climate, and that the political space had widened. There had also been a marked change in the behaviour of security services, who, in a break from the past, had not placed constraints on the freedoms of association and assembly. The Group was informed that, during the Commonwealth pre-election assessment team’s visit to Zimbabwe in June 2018, evidence of this improved political environment materialised when the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) Alliance held a demonstration to demand further electoral reforms and was allowed to do so unhindered. Peace pledge and campaign atmosphere While we did not witness any instances of intimidation and politically motivated violence prior to the elections, we noted with concern reports from civil society groups about such incidents. Of particular note was the bomb blast at a ZANU-PF rally, addressed by President Mnangagwa, in Bulawayo on Saturday 23 June, during which two Zimbabweans were killed. 8 Electoral Act (Amended 2018), Section 3(c)(iii). 9 Ibid, Section 133C. 38